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Many cities bum rush towards bankruptcy, raising taxes instead of cutting spending, but one city – Colorado Springs – has drawn the line. When sales tax revenues dropped, voters were asked to make up the shortfall by tripling their property taxes. Voters emphatically said no, despite the threat of reduced services. Those cuts have now arrived. More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled. The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter. Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks… City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. I bet they do find private funding. That and community involvement is a better solution than throwing more money to government bureaucrats. A private enterprise task force is focusing on the real problem; the city’s soaring pension and health care costs for city employees. Broadmoor luxury resort chief executive Steve Bartolin wrote an open letter asking why the city spends $89,000 per employee, when his enterprise has a similar number of workers and spends only $24,000 on each. Good question, and also the subject of my Fox Business Network show tonight. Government employee unions are a big reason cities spend themselves into bankruptcy. Some union workers in Colorado Springs make it clear that they are not volunteering to help solve the budget problems. (A) small fraction of city employees have made perfectly clear they won’t stand for pay cuts, no matter what happens to the people who pay their wages. The attitude of a loud minority of employees, toward local taxpayers, sometimes sounds like “(expletive) them.” Maybe those workers should sense change in the air. Colorado Springs residents understand that if you can’t pay for it, you can’t have it. And if a rec center has to be closed, or the cops lose their helicopters, or government workers get a pay cut, so be it. Read more: http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/02/11/colorado-springs-walks-the-walk/#ixzz0fH4d5Mpd

World best awards rankings for: 1- Top 10 Cities U.S. and Canada Rank Last Year Name 2006 Score 1 1 New York 84.75 2 2 San Francisco 84.29 3 4 Chicago 82.52 4 6 Charleston 82.48 5 3 Santa Fe 82.06 6 5 Vancouver 81.45 7 7 Quebec City 80.98 8 9 Victoria, BC 79.92 9 8 Montreal 79.46 10 n/a Seattle 79.05 2- Top 100 Hotels in Continental U.S. and Canada Rank Last Year Name 2006 Score 1 5 The Aerie, Malahat, Vancouver Island 91.67 2 28 Sooke Harbour House, Sooke, Vancouver Island 91.54 3 n/a Charlotte Inn, Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard 91.25 4 27 Inn at Little Washington, Washington, Virginia 90.87 5 6 Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino, Vancouver Island 90.83 6 n/a Inn at Montchanin Village, Montchanin, Delaware 90.00 7 n/a WaterColor Inn, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida 89.82 8 69 Four Seasons Resort, Jackson Hole, Wyoming 89.82 9 7 Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, California 89.67 10 3 The Point, Saranac Lake, New York 89.09 11 13 Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles 88.81 12 4 The Peninsula, Beverly Hills 88.75 13 12 The Peninsula, Chicago 88.66 14 38 Four Seasons Hotel, Chicago 88.48 15 n/a Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch, Beaver Creek, Colorado 88.26 16 8 Tu Tu’ Tun Lodge, Gold Beach, Oregon 88.03 17 10 Monmouth Plantation, Natchez, Mississippi 87.84 18 29 Little Nell, Aspen, Colorado 87.78 19 n/a Cliff House at Pikes Peak, Manitou Springs, Colorado 87.71 20 43 Ritz-Carlton, Naples, Florida 87.67 21 2 Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tennessee 87.66 22 n/a L’Auberge Carmel, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California 87.62 23 n/a Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, Florida 87.34 24 n/a Château du Sureau & Spa, Oakhurst, California 87.33 25 26 Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas 87.13 26 18 Auberge du Soleil, Spa du Soleil, Rutherford, California 87.04 27 n/a Inn at Thorn Hill & Spa, Jackson, New Hampshire 87.00 28 n/a Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro, Georgia 86.99 29 n/a Fairmont Le Château Montebello, Quebec 86.82 30 81 Four Seasons Resort, Palm Beach 86.74 31 n/a Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, South Carolina 86.70 32 n/a Blantyre, Lenox, Massachusetts 86.67 33 n/a The Lancaster, Houston 86.66 34 23 Lodge at Pebble Beach, California 86.62 35 42 Post Hotel & Spa, Lake Louise, Alberta 86.50 36 33 The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs 86.49 37 36 Ritz-Carlton, Central Park, New York City 86.47 38 57 Wheatleigh, Lenox, Massachusetts 86.36 39 67 Fairmont Château Laurier, Ottawa 86.35 40 n/a Montage Resort & Spa, Laguna Beach, California 86.31 41 58 Campton Place Hotel, San Francisco 86.31 42 n/a Townsend Hotel, Birmingham, Michigan 86.26 43 16 Ritz-Carlton, Chicago (A Four Seasons Hotel) 86.16 44 31 Little Palm Island Resort & Spa, Little Torch Key, Florida 85.94 45 52 Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, California 85.93 46 11 Windsor Court Hotel, New Orleans 85.93 47 32 Regent Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills 85.91 48 34 Bellagio, Las Vegas 85.89 49 n/a Bernardus Lodge, Carmel Valley, California 85.85 50 44 Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco 85.83 51 n/a Watermark Hotel & Spa, San Antonio 85.83 52 n/a St. Regis Resort, Aspen, Colorado 85.79 53 88 Inn at the Market, Seattle 85.77 54 n/a Wentworth Mansion, Charleston, South Carolina 85.75 55 n/a Rancho Valencia Resort, Rancho Santa Fe, California 85.68 56 59 Stein Eriksen Lodge, Park City, Utah 85.64 57 n/a The Phoenician, Scottsdale, Arizona 85.62 58 24 Four Seasons Hotel, Las Vegas 85.62 59 14 Mandarin Oriental, Miami 85.61 60 21 Four Seasons Hotel, San Francisco 85.50 61 89 Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa, Carefree, Arizona 85.49 62 50 Fearrington House Country Inn & Restaurant, Pittsboro, North Carolina 85.45 63 95 Trump International Hotel & Tower, New York City 85.45 64 37 Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Alberta 85.44 65 45 The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia 85.38 66 19 St. Regis Hotel, New York City 85.35 67 99 Rimrock Resort Hotel, Banff, Alberta 85.35 68 n/a Hotel Telluride, Colorado 85.32 69 76 Ventana Inn & Spa, Big Sur, California 85.28 70 n/a Charleston Place, Charleston, South Carolina 85.25 71 n/a Bellevue Club Hotel, Bellevue, Washington 85.20 72 n/a Inn at Shelburne Farms, Shelburne, Vermont 85.19 73 n/a Madrona Manor, Healdsburg, California 85.13 74 48 Four Seasons Hotel, Philadelphia 85.11 75 n/a Lowell Hotel, New York City 85.06 76 84 San Ysidro Ranch, Montecito, California 85.04 77 n/a Hotel Healdsburg, California 85.00 78 63 Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay, California 84.97 79 25 Inn at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach, California 84.80 80 61 Four Seasons Resort, The Biltmore, Santa Barbara, California 84.79 81 79 Mandarin Oriental, New York City 84.72 82 15 XV Beacon, Boston 84.72 83 22 Four Seasons Hotel, New York City 84.72 84 n/a Inn on Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina 84.72 85 n/a Spring Creek Ranch, Jackson, Wyoming 84.62 86 93 Inn of the Anasazi, Santa Fe 84.53 87 20 Raffles L’Ermitage, Beverly Hills 84.44 88 n/a Hôtel Le Germain, Montreal 84.40 89 82 Fairmont Banff Springs, Banff, Alberta 84.39 90 n/a Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa, Pasadena, California 84.38 91 n/a Cloister Hotel, Sea Island, Georgia 84.28 92 64 Wedgewood Hotel & Spa, Vancouver 84.28 93 65 Rittenhouse Hotel, Philadelphia 84.26 94 9 Marquesa Hotel, Key West, Florida 84.24 95 30 The Wauwinet, Nantucket 84.11 96 n/a Hôtel Le St.-James, Montreal 84.06 97 54 Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, Florida 84.01 98 n/a Lake Placid Lodge, New York 84.00 99 n/a Beverly Hills Hotel & Bungalows 83.99 100 49 American Club, Kohler, Wisconsin 83.97 Information from: http://www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest/2006/results.cfm?cat=citiesusca